TROON, Scotland — If you’re watching the British Open on television this week, you’re going to hear a lot from the commentators about the eighth hole at Royal Troon. It is a diminutive, 123-yard par-3 named “Postage Stamp,” and it can make or break a player’s round.

It might as well be called “Billiards Table” or “Coffee Table,” because that is what it looks and feels like for players trying to land a golf ball on that tiny green. And, making matters more complicated, the green is sloped like a Tilt-a-Whirl and is protected by steep, treacherous bunkers short, to the right and behind it.

It is the shortest hole on the golf course and one of the shortest holes in major-championship golf today. But it likely is to have a major say in who wins the Open this week. Whoever licks the “Postage Stamp” likely will have a good chance at hoisting the Claret Jug on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy took what he estimated was an 8 or a 9 on the hole in his Tuesday practice round.

“So,” McIlroy said wryly, “that didn’t go too well.”

“I hit it into the front right bunker, and it took me like five or six goes to get out of it,” McIlroy said, sounding like a 20-handicap going over his round with some buddies over pints. “There is a lot of sand in the bunker. So when the ball just trickles in back into the bunkers, it doesn’t go into the middle, it sort of stays. That lip there is basically vertical, so … every time I tried to get it out, it would go back into the same spot.

“[It was] a bit of a struggle at the ‘Postage Stamp’ for me. Hopefully the struggle is out of the way for that hole.”

If it isn’t, then McIlroy — or anyone else — could shoot his way out of contention with a big number on that one little hole.

“It’s one of those holes where you just try to hit it in the middle of the green,” McIlroy said. “If you make four 3s there this week, you’re probably going to gain a bit of ground on the field.”

Asked if the hole is “fun, difficult or horrible,” Justin Rose said, “All of the above.”

Early in the 20th century, Willie Park Jr., the 1887 and 1889 Open Championship winner, was credited with giving the hole its current name, when he wrote in Golf Illustrated that it had “a pitching surface skimmed down to the size of a postage stamp.”

According to local lore, soldiers used the deep bunkers for hand-grenade practice during World War II.

In 1973, Gene Sarazen, at age 71 and playing on the 50th anniversary of his first Open, had a hole-in-one when he hit a knock-down 5-iron shot that rolled into the cup, making him the oldest person ever to have an ace in a major championship.

In that same Open, shortly before Sarazen holed out, a 19-year-old named David Russell became the youngest player ever to score a hole-in-one in a major when he hit 7-iron in.

Conversely, in 1950, a German amateur named Hermann Tissies hit his tee shot into a bunker and took 13 shots to get out, walking away with a 15 on the hole.

Tiger Woods, playing in the 1997 Open, his first at age 21, hit into a greenside bunker on No. 8, took two shots to get out and three-putted for a triple-bogey 6 in the final round to fall out of contention.

“Anyone who wants to see potential train wrecks, if [the wind] is blowing hard off the left, that would be the place to sit, in that left-hand grandstand, and see a player struggle with that right-hand bunker,” Henrik Stenson said Tuesday. “On the scorecard, it doesn’t look like much, but when the wind is blowing and you’ve got to be precise, it’s quite tricky.”

Colin Montgomerie — who grew up at Royal Troon, where his father was the secretary — called the “Postage Stamp” his “favorite hole in golf.”

“You stand on the tee with a wedge in your hands and think you should be making a birdie, but the danger lurks everywhere,” he said. “There are two bunkers on the left and three on the right. The green is close, but it is very small, and you miss it at your peril. No round at Troon is secure until you have passed this hole in regulation numbers.”

British Open picks

Rickie Fowler: His form has been inconsistent this year, but he loves links golf, has been a major factor at a couple Opens and plays well in poor weather, which might be in store this week. Is it Fowler’s time to win his first major? It might be.

Jordan Spieth: He finished tied for fourth last year at St. Andrews, loves links golf, and despite the fact he has taken a back seat to Jason Day this year, he does have two wins this season.

Dustin Johnson: He is the hottest player in the world right now, having won the US Open and WGC-Bridgestone back-to-back entering this week. Oh, yes, he also has been in contention at five Opens already.

Jason Day: Because he always seems to be in contention, and he is No. 1 in the world.

Chris Wood: The Englishman won the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour and has a pair of top-five finishes in his five Open appearances. This could be his time. Good dark-horse pick for this week.